Atomic Layer Deposition (ALD)

Atomic Layer Deposition (or ALD) is an advanced deposition technique that allows for ultra-thin films of a few nanometres to be deposited in a precisely controlled way. Not only does ALD provide excellent thickness control and uniformity but 3D structures can be covered with a conformal coating for high-aspect-ratio structures.

ALD relies on self-limiting surface reactions and therefore generally provides very low pin-hole and particle levels, which can benefit a wide range of applications. The level of film and interface control and high film quality provided are sought after for many applications. The usage of plasma allows for improved film properties, control thereof and a wide range of possible materials. The flexibility of unique surface pre-treatments allows for low damage processing.

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Atomic Layer Deposition Process

Atomic Layer Deposition typically involves a cycle of 4 steps that is repeated as many times as necessary to achieve the required deposited thickness. The example shows ALD of Al2O3 using Al(CH3), (TMA) and O2 plasma.

Step 1) Dosing of the substrate with a precursor vapour of TMA, which adsorbs on and reacts with the surface. With the correct choice of precursor and parameters, this reaction is self-limiting.

Step 2) Purging of all residual precursor and reaction products.

Step 3) Low damage remote plasma exposure to the surface with reactive oxygen radicals which oxidize the surface and remove surface ligands, this reaction is self-limiting due to the limited number of surface ligands.

Step 4) Reaction products are purged from the chamber.

Only step 3 varies between H2O for the thermal process or O2 plasma. As the ALD process deposits a (sub)angstrom thickness per cycle, control over the deposition process is obtained at the atomic scale.

Wide Range of Materials

A wide variety of materials is possible with Atomic Layer Deposition and a wide range of processes can be guaranteed and set up by our process engineers. For novel processes, our extensive process knowledge and vast network allow us to provide starting point recipes that should be good starting blocks to go quickly towards a robust process.

Often plasma-based processes are available utilizing our plasma knowledge and handling of MFC controlled gas mixtures including toxic gases.

2D Materials

2D materials growth can also be grown by ALD which is a new development with the aim to go toward high-quality MoS2 films. ALD chemistry control has the promise to be able to utilize 2D sulphides with their unique properties at CMOS compatible temperatures with precise digital thickness control over a large area (200mm wafers).